Roblox’s ESBR rating has been changed from E10+ to Teen – Roblox receives new T rating

As of September 8, 2022, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating for Roblox has been updated from E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) to T (Teen). This change comes only three weeks after Roblox's second voice chat beta released the feature to everyone over 13 with a verified phone number and email. At the time of this article's publication, Roblox has not released an official statement regarding this change.

For those unfamiliar with the ESRB, this non-profit organization works throughout the United States and Canada to place age and content ratings, and advise certain restrictions, on video games and video game-related content. Similar to the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which focuses on rating movies, the ESRB aims to keep parents informed about what their children are playing by rating video games with their three-part system: Rating Categories, Content Descriptors, and Interactive Elements.

Depending on where a video game falls within each part of this system, it will receive one of five ratings, all of which have been taken from the ESRB website and listed below.

• Everyone (E)
  • Age: 6+
  • Description: Content is generally suitable for all ages. May contain minimal cartoon, fantasy, or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.
• Everyone 10 and older (E10+)
  • Age: 10+
  • Description: Content is generally suitable for ages 10 and up. May contain more cartoon, fantasy, or mild violence, mild language, and/or minimal suggestive themes.
• Teen (T)
  • Age: 13+
  • Description: Content is generally suitable for ages 13 and up. May contain violence, suggestive themed, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or use of strong language.

Related: Roblox’s famed “oof” sound has been removed from the platform due to licensing issues

• Mature (M)
  • Age: 17+
  • Description: Content is generally suitable for ages 17 and up. May contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language.
• Adults Only (AO)
  • Age: 18+
  • Description: Content suitable only for adults ages 18 and up. May contain prolonged scenes of intense violence, graphic sexual content, and/or gambling with real currency.

Before the change on September 8, 2022, Roblox was rated E10+ for fantasy violence, as stated on the ESRB website. Now, however, as stated in both the description for the Roblox Xbox app and in the Apple App Store, Roblox has a rating of T due to infrequent/mildly realistic violence and infrequent/mildly realistic cartoon or fantasy violence, along with the possibility of having infrequent mild language, infrequent mild or suggestive themes, and simulated gambling, all of which may not be suitable for children under the age of 12 or 13.

It's unknown how this will affect current Roblox account holders under 13, but it's unlikely that Roblox will forcibly remove them from the platform. Instead, players could begin to see restrictions on individual experiences based on developer ratings, meaning Roblox could require developers to rate their experiences upon publication in the future, thus allowing the platform to monitor and dictate who can play what experiences.

As mentioned above, Roblox has yet to comment on this rating change and likely won't—given their recent push toward adding 13+ features to the platform, it seems this change is in favor of Roblox and the direction/audience that the site is attempting to pivot toward. However, if Roblox makes an official statement regarding this change, we will update this guide accordingly.

Looking for Roblox news? Check out our recent articles on Roblox removes hundreds of old posts from their official blog site or Annual Roblox Bloxy Awards revamped into Roblox Innovation Awards here on Pro Game Guides.